1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to diagnostic imaging systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for forming and distributing a composite file including a dental image and associated diagnosis.
2. Description of Related Art
Radiographic imaging in dentistry has historically been most commonly associated with two-dimensional images. That is, any dental-related radiographic imaging likely produces a two-dimensional representation of the imaged area that includes distortion resulting from the attempt to image a three-dimensional subject. Developments in three-dimensional imaging such as, for example, conebeam technology, has allowed three-dimensional imaging to be offered to private practitioners, such as dentists. Because the three-dimensional subject (patient) can now be imaged with a three-dimensional imaging technique, more information, as well as more accurate information, can be provided to the practitioner (also referred to herein as a “referring dentist”) to allow for more precise and successful treatment of the patient. Along with this improvement in finding and treating such problems comes an increase in patient satisfaction. However, since many dental practitioners are accustomed to viewing and performing a diagnosis through two-dimensional imaging of a three-dimensional subject, many such practitioners may be unable to perform a diagnosis or otherwise make efficient use of the wealth of information provided by images produced by three-dimensional imaging techniques.
In addition, though a significant amount of two-dimensional radiographic images in the field of dentistry are provided in a film format, an increasing number of private practitioners are turning to digital imaging as an alternative. Such digital imaging, for example, eliminates the use of film and developing solutions. Furthermore, the resultant radiographic images are in electronic form, can be stored in computers, can be transmitted over the Web, and/or transferred onto portable hard media, such as a compact disc (CD). In some instances, radiographic imaging devices implementing digital imaging techniques may also require less radiation per exposure.
In order for three-dimensional imaging of the oral and maxillofacial complex to be accomplished using conebeam technology, data is collected while exposing the entire maxillofacial complex to the three-dimensional imager over a full 360°. The raw data collected via the imager can be reconstructed, for example, into 512 axial images and stored in a DICOM format. The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard was created by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) to aid the distribution and viewing of medical images, such as CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasound. Part 10 of the standard describes a file format for the distribution of images. Most refer to image files which are compliant with Part 10 of the DICOM standard as DICOM format files.
A single DICOM file contains both a header (which stores information about the patient's name, the type of scan, image dimensions, etc), as well as all of the image data (which can contain information in three dimensions). The DICOM image data can be compressed (encapsulated) to reduce the image size, and files can be compressed using lossy or lossless variants of the JPEG format, as well as a lossless Run-Length Encoding format (which is identical to the packed-bits compression found in some TIFF format images). In this regard, DICOM is among the most common standards for receiving scans from a hospital.
The software included with the radiographic (conebeam) imaging machine is typically configured to reconstruct the collected data to produce images in any plane and/or three-dimensional volume renderings of the maxillofacial complex. Once a planar image or volume rendering is produced, the image can be saved at the imaging site as a bitmap or JPEG image. In addition to images, video clips can sometimes be created and saved as AVI files. At this point, bitmap or JPEG images of the patient's region of interest must be somehow delivered to the referring dentist, along with a description of the images, and possibly including an interpretation of findings. However, any accompanying description or interpretation of the image data must often be prepared separately from the image data and stored as a separate file.
Two forms of delivery of the patient image data to the referring dentist are common. One form is printing the appropriate images on film using a high-resolution printer and including a separate document containing a description of the images and an interpretation of the findings of the imaging specialist. However, such a method typically implements costly high-resolution printing on expensive film media. Further, it may be difficult to correlate the images with a separate printed text (interpretations), delivery of this information through mail or other delivery channels is slow, and correcting images or typographical errors in the text often requires appropriately amended film or documentation to be prepared by the imaging provider and then re-forwarded to the referring dentist.
The second form of delivery is providing the referring dentist with the entire DICOM data set on a CD or other portable media, along with an appropriate DICOM viewer. In practice, a DICOM viewer is particularly configured for a specified application. As such, the common thread between various DICOM viewers is generally limited to the capability of opening a DICOM format file. Further, the entire DICOM data set is often very large in size. In addition, even though any two or three-dimensional images, or video clip, selected from the DICOM data set may be included with the DICOM data set on the CD, any accompanying description or interpretation of findings must still be provided separately from the images. Dentists, however, often do not have the time or skill to manipulate such large DICOM data sets and, since this method involves delivery to the referring dentist on hard media, such DICOM viewers and data may not be well-received by the referring dentist due to the time for delivery and/or the cumbersome and extensive nature of the provided data.
Another possible shortcoming in delivering to the referring dentist images produced from three-dimensional volume data sets is that the final radiographic study cannot be easily shared with more than one dentist that may be involved in treating the same patient. That is, sharing such images between dentists, who may be remotely located, may be difficult and/or cumbersome, particularly where concurrent viewing of a particular image may be required for conferring between the remotely located dentists. This is due, at least in part, to the size and complexity of the DICOM data set, the specialized nature of the DICOM viewer, and the separate file(s) for the accompanying description and/or interpretation of findings.
Thus, there exists a need for a more efficient method of forming and distributing composite image data, including a dental image and associated diagnosis, that allows the referring dentist(s) more flexibility in receiving and viewing the images of the patient and then formulating an appropriate treatment as a result thereof.